Help?


Every year our small collection of Christmas decorations seem to grow just a little more.
Some, items have been with us an absolute age.
These vintage  2 inch crackers have been knocking around for years and years.
I was told that they came from America in the 1940s
Does anyone out there know if that's true
I'd be interested to know

36 comments:

  1. Hi John, love your blog!
    I am a Brit and have lived in the US for 26 years now. My experience is that crackers are extremely rare here. When I was searching for crackers for my first Christmas here, no one knew what I was talking about. I think now they can be found in a few specialty shops or online. Certainly they are not part of the Christmas dinner table as they are in the UK.
    My American husband does not remember them at all. So I would say that your charming box is not of US origin. Just my opinion of course.
    I don't know if they have them in Canada, maybe someone will tell us.
    Pam in TX.x

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    1. Thanks pam, I thought they were not American ! The box is interesting too.... perhaps they are UK retro 1950?

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  2. I agree with Pam. I don't think Christmas crackers are a particularly American tradition. My first experience with them was when my daughter-in-law who was born in Scotland joined the family in 1990. They have them every year at their Christmas dinner. I love the funny paper hats inside and the little toy. Yours make a great holiday display! Love the Santa too.

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  3. Is there a maker's name on them? I can't find anything on crackers being made in Canada. The Tom Smith brand was well known over here and must have been imported from England. I think there might be an archive of Christmas cracker designs at Norwich museum from the Caley factory which merged with Tom Smith-the original cracker designer.

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  4. I can't help you with your query John but they do look similar to these:
    http://countrystyleliving.co.uk/item_855/Vintage-Crackers-1.htm

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  6. The crackers could have come from Canada. My family has used them for generations. They certainly were for sale in Montreal Quebec in the 1950's onward. Our friends also used them : course we were all of English , Scottish and Itish descent !! They sell them out here in the West { Alberta} as well.

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  7. I live in NY and grew up in the 50's. We always had what we called "snappers" at Christmas, so they have been used at least in the northeast US for years. Now where I live they can be found in every card and gift shop at this time of year. So your Christmas crackers could very well be American.

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  8. It was always my impression, but only from my voluminous reading as a child, crackers are a British tradition. I would love to have one, but highly unlikely here in the mid west Yew S A.

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    1. You can order them online or find them at stores like Home Goods, Marshall's, Target.

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  9. We've had crackers at Christmas and New Years since I was old enough to be aware...so obviously beforehand...however, they are full sized. I've never seen such cute little mini's. Ours have paper hats and jokes or fortunes and a prize of some kind...usually something totally useless but fun for the moment. Of course you can buy extremely expensive ones but the ones we buy usually range arond $20 for a box of 8. Most grocery stores carry them as well as department stores and drug stores.

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  10. I'd say they started showing up in the US in the 1980's here on East Coast.

    Mary in Maryland

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  11. We had Christmas crackers on the table when I was a child...over 50 yrs ago. We are of Scottish,and English decent, so that might explain why they followed us to Canada.
    Barb

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  12. A lot of British traditions and customs have continued in Canada. You can buy all kinds of Christmas crackers here. We have photos of Christmases with my husband's family and everyone is wearing those silly tissue paper hats from the crackers. But I don't know from where yours originate, John. -Jenn

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  13. I'm 66 and I remember them as a child on birthdays, not Christmas. I remember we didn't know what to do with them and an adult had to show us. They were hard for children to pull. Vaguely, I think they had confetti in them and something else, escapes me. But we didn't think they where a very good party favor. But that would have been in the 50's. I do occasionally see them (fake ones) as Christmas decorations, so perhaps the real ones are just a thing of the past now.

    Portland, Oregon USA

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  14. We always had crackers for New Years and birthdays, I grew up in the US midwest. The crackers came from stores like Woolworth's. The style and colors of your crackers and the box look like the 1950s, not the 1940s,which were the years of WW2 and post war, things like this began showing up again by the 50s, as best I know. I ve collected antiques all my life, but could be wrong. Any tiny printing on the box, company or 'made in' etc? As I mentioned above, new ones are available in evrey home store here in the US. btw, the main value of the items is in the box, so handle it with care!

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  15. They are still unheard of here in France, so I make my own with no bang, no joke, and no trashy gift.

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    1. Hahaha and the point is?

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    2. Decor.... now't more, now't less.

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  16. I couldn't say for sure

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  17. I was going to say they are most likely from Norwich but I didnt think you'd believe me.

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  18. I live near Seattle and we have had Christmas crackers here for at least 25 years. Maybe it's because we are so close to Vancouver, Canada? I didn't realize that they weren't common in the rest of the US until I spent a Christmas in Boston.

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  19. I suspect they might have come from Woolworth's in the UK John, probably late 40's early 50's, but no idea where they were actually made. A friend of my mother's always had a small tree with very similar miniature crackers. She was pleased to have found something so small, and said she'd bought them in Woolworth's.

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  21. We had exactly those small crackers on our tree when I was a child. My dad still has a few left! We were never allowed to pull them as they were special tree crackers but of course we did pull a few on the sly and I remember the contents were very disappointing. Based on when my parents would have first had them, I'd say they were 1950s or even early 60s and yes, probably from Woolies

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  22. Who told you they came from 1940s America? Was it Thomas the Spiv at the Rhyl Christmas Market? He tells everybody that. His Christmas wreaths are made by the princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and his mistletoe is hand-picked by elves in The Forest of Arden.

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    1. Thanks all ! It looks as though they actually came from Woolworths, by the look of the box I'd would say 1940s to 50s
      Thanks all

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  24. I grew up in NY and remember them well.

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  25. I like Santa. But he needs to wash his beard. It looks a bit stringy. :-)

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  26. I think the crackers probably did come from the States. I remember we had very similar ones on our Christmas tree when I was a child. and my Aunt was well known for giving comfort to American Servicemen during the war, so I expect that gifted a few comforts to her too. I know my teddy Bear was American. Poor chap, he only had one eye

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  27. If you have read any of Nella Last's diaries ( she was a part of the Mass Observation Diaries started as the second world war began), Nella mentions tiny crackers that she has had for a long time and she puts them on her tree. One goes missing as she gives it to a child who might not get any presents. Lovely books but they might not be to your liking. Love Andie xxx

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  28. 1950's or 1960's from the UK, just cleared some of these out, could have sent them to you to add to your collection if I had known!

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  29. I do think you have a few gems there . . .
    I haven't found any info of the Crackers originating in America . . .
    I think the United Kingdom . . .?
    What fun to have them . . .

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  30. I would say they are British, from the early to mid 1950's going by the box. We had some tiny crackers when we were growing up that were a slightly more modern version of those and ours were bought in the very early 60's.

    That box is also very like one we had our baubles in and they were early to mid fifties in origin :-)

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